Add a homemade touch to your Christmas tree with one of these DIY Christmas ornament tutorials. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite felt, embroidery hoop, and fabric homemade Christmas ornament sewing patterns and craft projects to share with you today.
A friend gave me a handmade gingerbread man Christmas ornament several years ago. Every year, when I pull out my Christmas ornaments, I smile when I see that gingerbread man in my ornament box.
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How do you make Christmas tree ornaments out of fabric?
There are several different ways to create ornaments out of fabric. They include:
- Cutting out a shape from fabric and sewing it together.
- Use a small embroidery hoop as a frame and place a piece of your favorite Christmas fabric inside.
- Create images and shapes from felt fabric instead of cotton fabrics.
- Instead of fabric, try creating DIY ornaments from ribbon, paper, fancy trim, beads, or glitter!
What Materials are Best to Use When Making Christmas Ornaments?
- Fabric (fabric scraps are wonderful for DIY ornaments)
- Yarn
- Acrylic Paint
- Buttons
- Clay (I prefer air dry clay to other types)
- Wood Slices
- Pom Poms
- Clear Glass Ornaments (there are a million ways to decorate these; we’ve included several glass ornament tutorials on our list today).
Do you put homemade ornaments on your Christmas tree?
I do! I love the eclectic look that handmade ornaments give to a Christmas tree. In addition to adding variety, they’re a great way to incorporate different colors and textures.
Since then, I’ve tried to add one handmade ornament to my Christmas tree each year. I love Christmas crafts and look forward to making ornaments to give as gifts or decor.
The creations of my fellow bloggers and designers always inspire me. There are so many talented makers online.
How Do I Hang Christmas Ornaments?
There are several ways to hang the ornaments on your tree; a lot of what you pick has to do with what aesthetic you want. Some of my favorites are thin ribbon, baker’s twine, and heavy-duty thread. You can also use the metal ornament hooks that you can find at many stores.
Handmade Christmas Ornaments to Make Now
Here are some of my favorite Christmas ornament tutorials to help you celebrate the holiday season.
The ornament tutorials all include step-by-step instructions, and the skill levels vary from easy DIY Christmas ornaments perfect for kids to make to more detailed quilted & painted ornaments.
Handmade Christmas Ornament Tutorials
Looking for a unique, special ornament to add to your Christmas tree? Check out one of these creative and affordable handmade Christmas ornaments tutorials for ideas!
We've broken down the list for you into sections:
1. Felt Christmas Ornament Patterns
2. Embroidery Hoop Ornament Patterns
3. Crafty Ornaments including paper ornaments.
4. Fabric Christmas Ornament Patterns
Felt Christmas Ornament Tutorials
Felt is a fantastic material to use to create Christmas ornaments. It comes in many colors and does not need to be hemmed.
If you're looking to create ornaments that will look great for years we recommend using wool blend or bamboo felt.
Each of these ornaments has extra added details such as hand stitching with embroidery thread or small embellishments like buttons or bells.
Wool Felt Mitten Christmas Ornament Tutorial
Designed by Amy Chappell these cute ornaments look great stitched up in bright colors of felt.
Felt Gingerbread House Christmas Ornament Pattern
This gingerbread house is one that you can use year after year, and no worries that your kids will try to eat the decorations!
Kawaii Inspired Felt Christmas Ornaments Pattern & Tutorial
These sweet ornaments designed by Sarah Ashford feature adorable embroidered faces. She adds a few additional embellishments as well.
Baby Sock DIY Christmas Ornaments
Commemorate baby's first Christmas with one of these sweet ornaments that feature baby mice with felt Santa hats!
Cricut Felt Gingerbread House Ornaments
This tutorial is great because your Cricut does most of the work for you. The additional details on the gingerbread house are created from iron-on vinyl.
Embroidery Hoop Christmas Ornament Tutorials
There are so many things you can make with a simple embroidery hoop! Some of these ornaments are hand embroidered and others are sewn by machine.
If you want to dress up your ornament a bit more, glue pom poms to the outside of the hoop.
Cat Embroidery Hoop Christmas Ornaments
Have a very "meowy" Christmas with these festive Cat ornaments. They are constructed from simple felt cat head shapes and purchased Christmas embellishments.
Merry Christmas Embroidery Hoop Ornament Pattern
This ornament features a bit of hand embroidery and is great for beginning stitchers.
Child's Handwriting Hand Embroidered Christmas Ornament Tutorial
These cute ornaments make great family keepsakes. If you don't want to wrap the embroidery hoop in fabric, you could also paint the hoop with acrylic paint.
9 Scandinavian Inspired DIY Christmas Decorations
My family is Scandinavian and I've always been inspired by their holiday style. These embroidery hoop ornaments are machine appliqued. Choose between a gnome ornament or a snowflake-inspired quilt block ornament.
Tip: use cookie cutters to create the shapes cut out of felt on the ornaments.
Elf Mini Hoop Christmas Ornaments
Name that movie! Aren't these cute? I look forward to the Holiday season each year so I have an excuse to watch Elf.
Embroidered Christmas Ornament Bicycle with Free Pattern
This ornament by Jessica would be cute at Christmas but could also be displayed during the year. Use a bit of baker's twine tied around the hoop hardware to hang your ornament.
Chilly Snowman Embroidered Hoop Ornaments
I love the wire detail that Bev added to these simple snowman ornaments.
Embroidered Word Ornaments PDF Pattern
This well-written pattern includes a lot of variety of ornament styles and sayings.
Scandinavian Cross Stitch Ornament Pattern
Create a beautiful cross-stitched red & white Scandi style Christmas ornament with this free Scandinavian Star Cross Stitch Ornament Pattern.
Floral Crown Ornaments
Create these cute woodsy ornaments with a bit of help from your Cricut.
Starry Ornament Cross Stitch Patterns
In case you didn't know, cross stitch is back! It's more popular than ever, and these ornaments are a great way to dip your feet back into stitching.
Crafty Christmas Ornament Tutorials
These handmade Christmas ornaments use simple, easy craft supplies and feature fun materials such as iron-on, leather, and paper.
How to Make a Paper Poinsettia Christmas Ornament
These beautiful red and black Poinsettia Christmas Ornaments are so much fun to make and simple too! All you need is a styrofoam ball, paint, pins & paper! No sewing or special skills are required.
How to Make Paper Memory Christmas Ornaments
These memory capsule Christmas ornaments are a beautiful way to remember a favorite place or to capture the memory of someone you love. Learn how to make them with our simple Christmas Ornament Tutorial.
Holiday Sampler Gift Card Holder
This tutorial for a plastic canvas gift card holder can be adapted in many ways and is a great way to make giving a gift card a little more special this holiday season!
How to Make a Retro Fabric Christmas Ornament with a Photo
Display your favorite photo on your Christmas tree with this fun retro-inspired ornament. Learn how to create a photo Christmas ornament using our fun 70’s inspired fabric Christmas ornament tutorial.
DIY Splatter Paint Christmas Ornaments
Learn how to make these colorful and creative splatter paint ornaments with this handmade glass ornament tutorial by Julia Fraizer. It’s a part of our Monthly Handmade Ornament Series.
How to Make a Retro Diorama Ornament
These Retro Diorama Ornaments are perfect for Christmas and many other holidays! In addition to the deer used for our ornaments, you could also use bunnies to make a beautiful Easter display! Learn how to make the ornaments with our free tutorial.
DIY Leather Conversation Heart Keychains
These hearts were designed as a Valentine's day gift, but would also be great for ornaments on the tree.
DIY Twisted Paper Christmas Ornaments
You probably already have most of the supplies you need to create these ornaments at home.
This is a great project to let the kids help! Just make sure that you use the hot glue gun instead of letting them use it.
Coaster Photo Ornaments
This one is an "oldie" but a goodie. One of our very first ornament tutorials. Simple and sweet. Just print a photo out on photo paper and decoupage it to a chipboard coaster with a bit of modge podge.
Punch two holes in the top corners and tie a ribbon through them to create the ornament hanger.
Fabric Christmas Ornament Tutorials
Each of these ornaments can be made from leftover fabrics from other Christmas sewing projects, making them all great scrap-busting projects.
Fabric Scraps Ornament Tutorial
Create a cute tree using fabric scraps. I love that it features pieced strips of fabric.
Christmas Stocking DIY Advent Calendar
These stockings were designed to be used as an advent calendar. Why not hang the calendar on the tree?
Mini Christmas Stocking Garland Tutorial
These tiny stockings are just the right size to stuff with candy.
Mini Christmas Tree Quilt Ornament Tutorial
Amy walks you through the steps of creating Christmas ornaments using her very popular improv Christmas Tree block quilt pattern.
Quilt As You Go Scrappy Christmas Ornament Tutorial
These ornaments stitch up quickly thanks to the method that Amy uses to create them.
Quick Patchwork Quilted Christmas Ornaments
Inspired by some of our favorite quilt blocks. These would be great to make with leftover fabric from a Christmas quilt project.
Fabric Christmas Ornaments
These beautiful ornaments feature hand embroidery and felt. Get the how-to over at nana & co.
How to Make a Vintage Folded Fabric Star Ornament
Learn how to make a beautiful and unique Christmas ornament using vintage sheets. This DIY Folded Fabric Star Christmas ornament tutorial will walk you through all of the steps to make this creative ornament!
How to Make Fabric Kimekomi Christmas Ornaments
These ornaments are made by adhering fabric to a styrofoam ball. They are much simpler to make than they appear!
Scrappy Improv Christmas Tree Ornaments
Don’t throw out the scraps from your favorite Christmas fabrics; turn them into Christmas ornaments instead! These scrappy improv Christmas Tree ornaments use cardstock as a base, so they don’t need to be quilted.